Democrats' Controversial Draft Platform Passed Unanimously in Detroit in August

Democrats are pretending that flaws in their party’s platform, which excluded much pro-Israel language and any reference to God, are the result of “technical oversight.” The truth is that the Democrats’ draft platform was the result of a meticulous process handled by Newark mayor Cory Booker, and passed unanimously on August 11th.

Booker insisted that the platform be perfected in all its details, asking the platform committee for “an all-encompassing resolution, ensuring that this is a grammatically tight document.” No oversights were noted.

“There was almost no debate, and very little rancor,” observed National Public Radio reporter Sonari Glinton, who covered the passage of the Democratic platform that weekend. He had to dig deep into history to find the last times that a party platform had caused significant controversy, citing the inclusion of a pro-life plank in the Republican platform in 1984, and battles over racial segregation in the Democratic Party platform in 1948.

“There were very few big deals in the platform,” Glinton said, adding that “what was supposed to be an eight-hour day ended in just over three hours.” Neither he nor anyone else mentioned the changes on God and Israel.

The controversial sections of the Democrats’ platform were likely overlooked for three reasons: first, the media were distracted by the nomination of Rep. Paul Ryan as Mitt Romney’s running mate the same day; second, the God and Israel provisions were overshadowed by a new plank endorsing same-sex marriage at the federal level; and third (and most important), that the mainstream media are far more interested in criticizing Republicans for standard language on abortion in their platform than in asking Democrats about radical changes to theirs.

Regardless, neither the Democratic Party nor the mainstream media can pretend the changes in the platform were minor oversights. They were carefully worked into the text, and passed immediately–without dissent.